• Use a high-performance metal detector designed specifically for gold prospecting.
• Learn how to use your metal detector properly.
• Search where there is gold to be found.
• Be persistent.

Basic Care

The MicroMAX Diablo is a sturdy instrument but it is not designed to withstand abuse. In caring for your MicroMAX Diablo there are several important “DO NOTs” to remember. DO NOT use it to pry rocks loose or to beat bushes out of the way. DO NOT drop the machine into water. DO NOT use it unprotected in the rain. DO NOT leave it exposed at night where dew could form on it. DO NOT store it in places that could get extremely hot (next to a woodstove, in an attic). DO NOT leave it in the trunk of a car or in the back of a hatchback style car where high temperatures could build up. DO NOT store it with the battery installed as batteries may leak. DO NOT spray lubricants such as WD-40, or any type of cleaners, solvents, sealants or other chemicals into or onto the electronic parts, switches or controls. And finally: DO NOT attempt to modify or repair the detector’s electronics as this will void your detector's warranty.

Tesoro Metal Detectors and genuine Tesoro Accessories are sold only through independent Tesoro Authorized Dealers, who are almost always metal detectorists themselves. They can answer your questions about your Tesoro detector, what accessories may be helpful and about metal detecting in general.

See your Tesoro Authorized Dealer for more information and prices on optional accessories.

Scuff Covers

We highly recommend using a scuff cover to protect your searchcoil at all times. The scuff cover for the MicroMAX Diablo fitted with the 10" elliptical searchcoil is Tesoro Part # SCUFF-10E.

Searchcoils

The 10" elliptical wide scan searchcoil provided with the MicroMAX Diablo is designed for best all-around performance. Wide scan searchcoils ignore ground mineralization better than concentric searchcoils and may offer improved performance in extreme ground conditions.

Optional searchcoils may add to your detector's performance. Selecting the right optional searchcoil depends on factors such as search site conditions. Optional interchangeable searchcoils will be available for the MicroMAX Diablo in the near future.

Headphones

Most metal detectorists prefer to use headphones instead of the detector's built-in speaker. Headphones help block out background noise (such as wind) and make it easier to hear faint signals. Headphones with a built-in volume control will allow you to adjust the sound volume to your preference.

• All-new Electronics-circuitry designed specifically for greater depth, sensitivity and smoother operation in heavy mineralization.
• Ultra-light Weight and Good Balance—you can search for hours without fatigue. No need for clumsy hip-mounts or arm straps.
• 3 piece Knockdown Pole—compact for storage and travel.
• Economical Use—typically 20 to 30 hours on a single battery.
• 17.8 kHz Operating Frequency- delivers high sensitivity to gold nuggets in the most important size range - several grains to several pennyweight.
• All-new High-sensitivity Searchcoil—a 10 inch elliptical wide scan type for broad sweep, good pinpointing and deep ground penetration. (Optional searchcoils will be available.
• 3 3/4 turn GROUND Knob-allows for quick and easy ground balance adjustment.
• BLACK SAND Mode-lets you find gold in heavy black sand that other machines just can't handle.
• Special Cable Design-eliminates annoying "cable chatter".
• No-motion PINPOINT Mode-for quick and easy pinpointing of the exact location of your gold target.
• Exclusive HOT ROCK ADJUST Mode-identifies and "sees through" iron-bearing rocks.
• Variable Response Speed SENSITIVITY Control-gives you maximum ground penetration in heavy iron mineralization and wet alkali ground conditions.
• Virtually Instantaneous Recovery From Signal Overload-caused by chunks of iron metal or magnetite rocks. No annoying squealing or "ambulance" sounds.
• Virtually No Crosstalk-with other makes and models of metal detectors.
• Exclusive Tesoro Lifetime Warranty—best in the industry.

METAL DETECTORS
Principle of Operation

The searchcoil of a metal detector transmits a magnet field that energizes any electrically conductive (esp. metal) or magnetic (esp. iron oxide mineral) materials in the immediate vicinity, causing these materials to radiate their own magnetic field in response. The searchcoil detects the magnetic field radiate their own magnetic field in response. The searchcoil detects the magnetic field radiated by these minerals, producing an electrical signal that is analyzed electronically and converted to an audio tone which you hear from the speaker or headphones. This audio tone has a loudness, pitch, and duration that correspond to certain characteristics of the signal, telling you something about the size, depth, and character of the material you have found. Since the signal from iron oxide minerals is often much stronger than that of metal objects (gold) you wish to find, the electronic circuitry has provision to null out or cancel signals having the characteristics of iron oxide minerals, while allowing signals from metal objects to still be heard. That's what the GROUND knob is for.

Electrical Interference

All metal detectors are subject to electrical interference from electric power lines, fluorescent lamps, computers, telephone lines carrying computer data, military submarine communications systems, longwave radionavigation signals (LORAN, OMEGA), other metal detectors, high-powered radio and radar signals, lightning storms, and other sources. Since different models of metal detectors operate at different frequencies, it is possible under a given set of conditions for one metal detector to be free of interference while another experiences sever interference. This same situation can occur with two MicroMAX Diablo detectors, since their operating frequencies vary slightly from unit to unit.

Most metal detectors will experience some electrical interference in commercial buildings, and residential homes with their proliferation of computerized electronic equipment can be just as bad. Don't judge a metal detector's sensitivity under these conditions. Once you get away from power lines and electronic equipment, interference problems will usually vanish or become a minor nuisance at worst. In those rare cases where the source of interference is more distant (sub communications, radionavigation) the problem can be minimized by keeping the searchcoil held horizontally, being careful not to tilt it.

PROSPECTING FOR GOLD

Many books have been written about gold prospecting, and there are popular magazines on the subject too. The dealer who sold you your metal detector probably has some good books or can tell you where to get them.

Learn. Read books and magazines. Talk to prospectors. Join a gold prospecting club or association. Clubs and associations know good places to go prospecting. We can't tell you everything you need to know here but we can cover some of the more important points.

• "Gold is where you find." Do your prospecting in areas where gold has already been found before.
• Many gold areas have been claimed. Learn to recognize claim markers and stay off claims unless you have the owner's permission to prospect there. Some government-owned areas (National Parks, for example) are off limits to metal detectors. The safest approach is to stay out of areas where you don't have the landowner's permission to be.
• Gold makes people crazy. Some claim owners defend their claims "very aggressively", to put it politely, so stay out of places you don't belong. Keep quiet about your gold finds. Don't lose your head over gold: it will make you the perfect victim of a con artist. Learn to recognize fool's gold, and be wise enough to know when real gold is fool's gold.
• In gold prospecting, as in most other enterprises, the road to success is paved by hard work, persistence, skill, knowledge, and enjoyment of the journey down the road. Don't expect to find a 3-ounce nugget your first weekend out prospecting. It's fine to think it COULD happen if that helps keep you motivated.
• Be safe. Learn to avoid outdoor hazards like snakes, ticks, poison oak, and dehydration. And be aware of hazards that are particular to gold mining, like poisons (mercury, cyanide), and unstable rock shafts: underground mining is dangerous business even when done commercially with proper safety equipment and procedures and no rotten timbers.

1. DISSEMINATED (MICRON) GOLD. Usually pit mined and extracted with cyanide. These deposits usually don't contain detectable nuggets.
2. HARDROCK (VEIN) GOLD. Usually mined by digging shafts and tunnels to follow the veins underground. In operating mines, metal detectors can be used to direct tunneling operations by locating gold which can't be seen because it's embedded in the rock. In non-operating mines, metal detectors have proven useful for scanning mine dumps (mullock heaps) for gold in rocks that were discarded by the old-time miners because they couldn't see any gold in them, rock being so opaque and whatnot. Some big gold-in-quartz specimens have been found this way.
3. FLOAT (ELUVIAL) GOLD. This is gold that has been released from a hardrock ore by weathering of the rock. The gold is now in the soil below where the ore was as it was weathering, or gradually moving downhill in the soil. (If the gold reaches a stream or gully where it can be transported by water, it is no longer float gold, but placer gold - see next section.) Float gold is in the form of nuggets and gold-in-quartz large enough to be detected, and obviously no deeper than the soil itself (which is often very shallow in gold mining areas). Natural soil churning processes that occur on most hill and mountain slopes keep float gold from settling to bedrock and staying there, so even in deeper soils some gold will be close enough to the surface to be detected. Still, the larger nuggets will tend to be deeper, where you need a machine like the float gold deposits is to search around and downhill from a hardrock mine. Another common method is to search upslope from a stream at a point in the stream where very coarse gold has been found or where gold has been found downstream but not upstream.
4. PLACER (ALLUVIAL) GOLD. This is gold that has been transported by water in a gully or stream. Water does several things to gold as it transports it, and knowing these things will help guide you to the best places to swing your metal detector. These are not necessarily the same places as have proven good for panning or sluicing. - Water moves gold downstream from the point it entered the stream channel. It transports tiny gold farthest and quickest. Large nuggets it moves more slowly. - Water tumbles gold together wit gravel and sand along the best of the stream, smashing large pieces into smaller pieces and wearing them down by abrasion. - Water tends to concentrate gold and other dense, heavy materials (magnetite black sand, irons crap metal, heavy gem minerals like garnet) in certain spots where water changes velocity. A sudden decrease in the velocity of the water causes the heavier materials to fall out of suspension and settle to the bottom. A sudden increase in velocity erodes lighter material from bottom sediments, leaving the heavier materials concentrated on the bottom. The place where these events occurred during high water when the most sediment is moved, are usually not the same places where those processes are happening now. - Water sorts sediments (alluvial material) by size as well as density. Good-sized nuggets are found almost exclusively in gravel, rarely in sand and silt deposits. - Water during floods tends to remove smaller and less dense materials from cracks, holes and crevices in the bedrock of the streambed, allowing larger and more dense materials (large rocks, gold nuggets) to drop in and stay. - Water during flood often moves coarse, heavy sediments out of the bottom of the stream channel and onto stream banks. Not all the gold is found in the low spots.

Your Tesoro metal detector is covered by a Limited Lifetime Warranty, the terms of which are listed below. If your metal detector should require service, you may return it to the Tesoro factory at the address below.

This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have other rights which vary from state to state.

This instrument is warranted to be free of defects in material and workmanship as long as it is owned by the original consumer purchaser. This warranty is not transferable, and is valid only if the warranty registration card has been completed and mailed within 10 days of purchase.

During the first two years, TESORO will, at its option, repair or replace any instrument covered by this warranty, without charge, except for transportation charges, at its factory in Prescott, Arizona, or at one of its authorized repair centers.

This warranty excludes batteries, damage caused by leaky batteries, cable breakage due to flexing on body mount units, and wear of the searchcoil housing. Also excluded are instruments which have been abused, altered, or repaired by an unauthorized party.